Pops and clicks while playing MIDI Instruments

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Oneiroi
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 30, 2015 6:34 pm

Pops and clicks while playing MIDI Instruments

Post by Oneiroi » Sat May 30, 2015 7:03 pm

Hi guys,

Next week, I'm doing a performance with two other musicians, one of which is playing saxophone and the other a MIDI keyboard. Everything is set up nicely, we each have our own MIDI controllers, we're good to go except one slightly annoying problem...lots of clicks and pops (audio artifacts I think you call them?) from CPU overload, but only while playing MIDI instruments, especially Operator but also Drum Rack. Now, I know pretty much all of the tips and tricks for optimizing your CPU efficiency in a Set, but even when I load a new set and only play the Operator, I still get lots of them.

So what I'd like to know is: what's your experience when playing MIDI instruments, more precisely synth instruments, in a live context? Is it a problem you come across and if not, how powerful is your computer? I'm just wondering if the problem lies in some setting I can change, or is it only my computer that's not powerful enough...do musicians playing live MIDI only have super powerful computers?

I tried adjusting the buffer size: at 128, every note produces lots of clicks, at 256 it's pretty frequent and at 512 it's just bearable (that's what I'm using now, although the latency is now audible).

My set up is:

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7
8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
750GB SATA Disk

AudioBox 44VSL
Ableton Live 9.1.8 32-Bit

Any feedback is much appreciated!

Thanks,
Simon

mrgrim3
Posts: 118
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:04 am

Re: Pops and clicks while playing MIDI Instruments

Post by mrgrim3 » Sat May 30, 2015 9:22 pm

have you tried turning off high quality mode in operator maybe it will help

i dont think your specs and interface are weak really either for that to be happening to you

my system is a windows desktop i have amd fx 6300 hexacore stock speed at 3.5gz , 16 gb ram, 1TB 7200 rpm drive, and lexicon alpha interface

ive never played in a live setting but i play with my synths and i also do guitar through my monitors with virutal amp while the program is looping beats and stuff and i dont notice crackles and stuff

i dont know much about macs OS but i see u have 8gb ram and run the 32 bit live is there a way for you to try 64 bit on mac maybe


hehe if u got this in ur inbox i fucked up and accidently clicked pm instead of reply the first time

sorry if u did
windows 8.1, amd fx 6300 3.5ghz , amd radeon 7850 2gb gfx card, GA-78LMT-USB3 rev5.0 mobo, 16 gb ram , 7200 rpm hd , steinberg ur22 interface, cubase 8.0.35 pro , ableton live 9 suite

Oneiroi
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 30, 2015 6:34 pm

Re: Pops and clicks while playing MIDI Instruments

Post by Oneiroi » Sat May 30, 2015 10:14 pm

Thanks for the reply!

Could you tell me where that High Quality mode is in Operator? I don't see it anywhere...

I could try 64-bit, although I'm not so much convinced it could help...as far as I know, isn't it helpful for larger sets when lots of things are going on? Right now, even when I load only one MIDI track in a set, the crackles occur...

Thanks,
Simon

mrgrim3
Posts: 118
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:04 am

Re: Pops and clicks while playing MIDI Instruments

Post by mrgrim3 » Sat May 30, 2015 10:29 pm

Oneiroi wrote:Thanks for the reply!

Could you tell me where that High Quality mode is in Operator? I don't see it anywhere...

I could try 64-bit, although I'm not so much convinced it could help...as far as I know, isn't it helpful for larger sets when lots of things are going on? Right now, even when I load only one MIDI track in a set, the crackles occur...

Thanks,
Simon
64 bit only means your 8gb ram is acessable instead of only 4 gb how in 32 bit

it actually wasnt caled highquality mode

i said wrong the options are interpolation and anti alaising on the bottom right bar u click that and it is the settings next to the voices setting
windows 8.1, amd fx 6300 3.5ghz , amd radeon 7850 2gb gfx card, GA-78LMT-USB3 rev5.0 mobo, 16 gb ram , 7200 rpm hd , steinberg ur22 interface, cubase 8.0.35 pro , ableton live 9 suite

Oneiroi
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 30, 2015 6:34 pm

Re: Pops and clicks while playing MIDI Instruments

Post by Oneiroi » Sun May 31, 2015 12:00 am

Right, I already checked those options to make sure they weren't using much CPU.

I will download 64-bit and tell you if it makes any difference!

Oneiroi
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 30, 2015 6:34 pm

Re: Pops and clicks while playing MIDI Instruments

Post by Oneiroi » Sun May 31, 2015 12:57 am

Ok so I tried with 64-bit and no difference at all.

I loaded the same set with my much less powerful HP laptop and there is absolutely no clicks and pops even at 256 buffer size. The CPU goes up no further than 25 %, while with my Macbook Pro it goes to 50-60% everytime I hit a note. Which means there is surely something wrong with my MCP.

Something I noticed: When I'm using my audio interface with my HP laptop, I can't use any sound on other applications, Ableton is using it exclusively, while with my MCP, my audio interface is used by any other other application which might be running at the same time. Could that be the cause of the very high CPU I'm getting?

mrgrim3
Posts: 118
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:04 am

Re: Pops and clicks while playing MIDI Instruments

Post by mrgrim3 » Sun May 31, 2015 1:19 am

i dont know what else to try about the cpu usage really


on the audio not being heard

that is how my interface works also

to turn that off in windows you go to your audio interface properties and there is exclusive mode

you uncheck give applications exclusive control of this device and it should let go and let you listen on youtube when you make ableton in the background

but i am not sure how you would do on mac tho it should be similar i think maybe
windows 8.1, amd fx 6300 3.5ghz , amd radeon 7850 2gb gfx card, GA-78LMT-USB3 rev5.0 mobo, 16 gb ram , 7200 rpm hd , steinberg ur22 interface, cubase 8.0.35 pro , ableton live 9 suite

Oneiroi
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat May 30, 2015 6:34 pm

Re: Pops and clicks while playing MIDI Instruments

Post by Oneiroi » Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:11 am

I tried playing with the built-in audio driver of my MCP and I still get very high CPU.

Does anyone have any idea what could be the problem between my computer and Ableton?

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